Chapter 2
It’s the day every female Specialist looks forward to, the day you make Sergeant. The whole company was in formation and I was standing out front with my company commander, who was ready to pin on the strips, while Sergeant Young, the unit clerk, read the orders. After today that’s going to be my job. Sergeant Young is transferring to the NCO Academy, and since the unit has been stealing me from my Battalion S-1 section every time they need help, they decided I should be his replacement, hence the promotion, followed by the headaches. It’s a hard job, and one of my duties is to make sure the Christmas party went off without a hitch.
After the promotion ceremony, followed by hardy handshakes and back slaps. I dashed back to my new office. What was once SGT Young’s job, making sure the Christmas party went off without a hitch, which has now become my burden. I had a sneak preview of the Santa suit earlier and thought it was absolutely perfect for Halloween, and if Santa was a zombie. I took it home and added some new fur, buttons, and about a mile of new thread. It looked much better but it still needed a trip to dry cleaners and some serious mending.
I stepped around my desk, grabbed my hat, and was ready to go pick it up when I ran into First Sergeant Stewart, literally. I almost knocked him on his ass. “Sorry, Top,” I mumbled after taking a deep breath. The man can start a fire in my heart that burns all the way to my groin.
“Not a problem…Sergeant,” he said while checking out my new rank. “When did you get promoted?”
“This morning,” I said proudly.
“Congratulations,” he said with more pride.
First Sergeant Tomas called from his office. “Remember to picking up your lunch while you’re out, no skipping it to do more work, unless you want plan on hitting the mess hall.”
“No mess hall,” I said immediately. “First Sergeant Stewart is here to see you.”
“Hey Jason, what brings you to this neighborhood?” Tomas asked after walking out of his office.
“Well actually I thought we could do lunch,” Stewart offered
“Sorry, man I have plans,” Tomas replied. “My wife is coming to take me to lunch.”
“Really?” Stewart asked feigning surprise.” Is that what they call it in our unit? In our company we call it a nooner.”
“Yeah, so do we…hey it’s not a nooner, it’s…Chicken.”
“Okay,” First Sergeant Stewart did well hiding his grin.” What about you Sergeant Finnegan. How about if I buy you lunch to celebrate the promotion?”
The fact that I didn’t answer right away may have made me look a little foolish, but I had to let it sink in. First Sergeant Stewart asked me to lunch.
“I would like that,” I said, trying to sound like I was accepting just another invitation from just another soldier. “I have to pick up our Santa suit from the cleaners first.”
“You should see what she did to the suit before she took it to the cleaners,” Tomas said. “Melody here is not just a great soldier, but she also have very nibble fingers.” First Sergeant Stewart’s face. He didn’t see my smile at all, I was smart enough to turn away. “She is great with a needle and thread.”
